2020 Coronavirus Pandemic (Hypothetical Version)
The 2020 Coronavirus Pandemic was a worldwide pandemic, of which was the worst pandemic in Human history, surpassing the number of deaths caused by the Bubonic plague of 1347-1351 in Europe. The number of deaths from the pandemic were estimated to be around 300-400 million, with possibly a billion infected. It began in the city of Nagpur, India in February of 2020. On February 12th, 2020, news of a possible new strain of coronavirus that began infecting mainly people in poverty who were living in slums. It is unclear where the virus originated, but it was speculated that it came from a man who drank contaminated water. A few days later, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that up to 10 people have been infected from the virus, and found out that the virus could be spread by Humans. Of the 10 cases of infection, all of the infected were observed by witnesses to have massive coughing fits and severe diarrhea. Three people were reported dead a few hours later, seemingly "dropping dead" on the spot after a rapid onset of the symptoms. As of February 20th, 2020, the death toll was sitting at three people, with 10 people infected. The coronavirus began to mutate new symptoms, and by the 1st of March, symptoms included severe diarrhea, pneumonia-like symptoms and eventually boils on the skin by the second week. On March 4th, the number of infected persons and deaths quickly surpassed one thousand, mainly in India. The WHO declared the virus a global health emergency, stating "The extremely deadly strain of the coronavirus will quickly kill off any persons with compromised immune systems, and the elderly." At this point, however, the virus had not spread to other countries and was still contained in India. This also changed however, as travelers who unknowingly had the virus hurried to get a flight out of Nagpur international airport. In response, the airport was quickly shutdown, but it was too late. The first cases outside of India were reported in China and in Karachi, Pakistan on March 7th. The virus spreads to other countries In the city of Karachi, Pakistan, screening for the virus quickly began, and Karachi observed 24 people with visible symptoms of the virus. They were kept hidden from view from the rest of the public, however, somebody accidentally discovered a sick person, and panic subsequently ensued. Karachi airport was quickly shutdown, but the virus had already spread to hundreds of people via airborne transmission, and by March 10th, the virus had infected over 3,000 people and killed 750. The first case of the deadly coronavirus infection was reported in the U.S, supposedly on a flight from China to the U.S. The virus gradually became more deadly, and yet more symptoms appeared, such as vomiting of blood and the bursting of skin boils. In the coming days, the number of deaths and infections skyrocketed once again. By March 20th, the virus had infected over 20,000 people and killed over 2,000. In the city of Karachi, 3,000 people and 200 deaths were attributed to the virus. In the city of Hong Kong, China, the first cases of the virus were reported on March 21st. The WHO scrambled to develop a cure for the virus outbreak, but discovered the virus was mutating faster than ever before. The number of infected in the city started as three people, but quickly rose to several thousand within a few days as the virus became even more contagious. By April 1st, over 450 Hong Kong residents died from the infection, and over 17,000 were infected, bringing the worldwide total to nearly 45,000 within a month and a half after the virus was first discovered and nearly 9,000 deaths. In the U.S city of Los Angeles, five people exhibited vomiting of blood and violent coughing and were quickly placed into quarantine. By mid April of 2020, the virus had spread by air and water to several countries: South Africa, Australia, Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom. Cape Town, south Africa reported their first cases on April 10th, Sydney, Australia on the 13th and Dubai on the 14th. The virus initially has no symptoms until it is too late. Within a few days, at least 100 people were infected in the four countries. The first cases were reported in London, England on the 17th. The virus quickly spread and within a few days, over 1,000 people had the virus incubating in their body. By the 20th, the number of infected persons in the world surpassed 100,000 for the first time along with 13,000 deaths. Infection rates rapidly increase New symptoms such as diarrhea and mental confusion soon appeared by early May, and the infection rate rapidly increased bringing the number of infected people to 500,000 just two weeks after it surpassed 100,000 with India having a majority of the infection cases and deaths. The first U.S death was caused by the virus on May 4th in Texas, a man from China, experiencing rapid onset diarrhea, and poor mental coordination similar to the effects of being intoxicated by alcohol. Attempts to quarantine the virus failed, and the virus quickly overran a hospital in Houston, Texas. Videos of people collapsing in the floors of the hospital quickly spread on social media, and the WHO declared a public health emergency for the state of Texas. 56 personnel were infected by the virus and 50 of them died soon after the onset of the symptoms, making the spread of the virus extremely easy as the second case of the virus was confirmed at the University of Texas. Within a few hours, sixteen people suspected of the virus were screened. All of them were sent to the hospital and died shortly after. The university was closed on May 5th after an additional 23 people contracted the virus; 17 of which died at the hospital and 3 before they reached the hospital. The virus was becoming much more infectious and lethal, but a cure was already being developed in New Zealand. Cure progress was slow, however, and was predicted to take a couple years because the virus's genome was so difficult to decode and the rate of mutation was extreme. By the 10th of May, the cases of infection surpassed 1 million with over 120,000 people dead. In India, transmission of the virus became very rapid with up to 2,000 people per hour becoming infected. On May 14th, a health emergency was declared in all of India. On May 15th, the number of infections surpassed five million, along with the number of deaths reaching 1 million for the first time. 98% of the deaths were in India. In the United States, the number of dead surpassed 1,000 people. In Karachi, 85 percent of the city's population became infected and died over the course of a month. Category:Pandemics Category:Events in the 2020s